Methods and systems have been devised to enhance customer loyalty to a particular provider/brand of a product or service. Such methods include issuing coupons and providing information to customers aimed at encouraging them to make purchases. These systems and methods for encouraging customer loyalty suffer from a number of disadvantages. First, with respect to coupons, the redemption rate is typically low. That is, only a very low percentage of all coupons issued are actually redeemed. This is due, in part at least, to the inconvenience that must be borne by customers, if they are to redeem coupons. Customers must save the coupons, and have them with them when making purchases. In practice, a customer having a coupon will often not have that coupon available when actually making the purchase, which may discourage the customer from making the purchase at all. In fact, a customer who otherwise had intended to make a purchase may decide not to make that purchase if they possess a redeemable coupon but do not have it at hand at that moment. As a result, the issuance of the coupon may have exactly the opposite of the desired effect.
In addition, prior art systems and methods for encouraging customer loyalty by providing information to customers suffer from a number of shortcomings. This information is typically provided by being mailed to the customer's home or by being provided at the point of sale. If the information is mailed to the customer's home, then the customer must read and remember the information and must act on it reasonably quickly. Otherwise, the information set out may no longer be correct. Often, the customer will be unsure of the information, or forget it completely, and will thus be unable to benefit from the information when actually shopping. If, on the other hand, the customer is provided with the information at the point of sale, the customer is less likely to return and do additional shopping as this will require a second wait in the queue at the point of sale, which is inconvenient.
Accordingly, there is a need for a customer loyalty system that provides customers with coupons and discounts, as well as information tailored to their particular buying patterns, in a way that makes it likely that these coupons, discounts and information will be available to customers when actually shopping, and before reaching the sales cashier.